A Ghost Named Clark.

 

Kadina 1933 {SLSA B 8738}

 In August 1880, Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula was haunted by a ghost. The ghost was seen in the evenings. It purposefully scared women and children, jumping out from behind trees, and around corners.

 One evening, Foot Constable Murray of the Kadina police patrolled the streets. He spotted the ghost as it floated through the town and followed it. He approached the ghost, and grabbed it, expecting to pass through it - as you do – but the ghost was solid. He unmasked the Kadina spectre, a man in a white bedsheet, and took him to the police station! FC Murray may have been South Australia’s first ‘ghostbuster!’

Hosiah Clark was charged by Foot Constable Murray with ‘unlawful use of a disguise to frighten women and children.’[1] Clark was deemed idle and disorderly, he was sentenced to pay 15s for his crime and serve fourteen days in the Wallaroo Gaol.[2]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] 'POLICE COURT—KADINA.', The Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal, (18 August 1880), p. 3.

[2] 'NEWS OF THE MONTH.', The Illustrated Adelaide News, (1 September 1880), p. 1. 

The Ghost of Cream Puff Corner

 

Cream Puff Corner is located at Upper Yorke Rd, Wokurna, near Port Broughton. The location got its name from two returned servicemen, Cedric Witty and David Richards, who began a carrying business at this location in 1946. According to a sign at the location,

‘When local folk asked the boys how they managed “batching”, the answer was always the same. “Real good, living like lords, we knock up a batch of cream puffs every Sunday morning.”
From then on, they were always asked “How’s the cream puffs going?”
“Real good,” they’d answer, “but we only manage them on Sundays.” When asked the whereabouts of their bachelor cottage, they’d laconically answer, “Cream Puff Corner of course!”

It has long been reported that the location is haunted by an unidentified man in a checked shirt. Have you seen him? Do you know who he might be?

Please let us know!

 A Phantom at Moonta

 

Many people have been reporting a phantom hitchhiker appearing in their headlights on Moonta-Wallaroo Road; and sometimes on the Moonta end of the Spencer Highway.
There have been reports of a phantom man wearing a large black coat. The ghost stands in the middle of the road, staring straight up at the sky. When the witness’ stops, he disappears. Others have seen the man walking in the middle of the road, a black silhouette in the distance, and as you get near him, he vanishes from sight.
 Some people who have stopped and checked the area, thinking the man in black has just moved to the side of the road, have reported after getting back into their cars, witnessing an ashen white face against their passenger side window. The face looks at the witness with absolute horror, before vanishing into the night!!!

 

Have you experienced this phenomenon? I would love to hear your story!

Sandilands Murder: Part IV: Conviction and Release

Sandilands Murder: Part IV: Conviction and Release

Herbert Cyril Curnow - after his arrest

Mounted Constable West of the Maitland Police Station first saw Curnow at 5:30pm when he entered the police station to hand himself in.
Constable West asked Curnow if had “shot a girl named Eleanor Louise Bockmann at Sandilands this afternoon? “, Curnow replied “Yes, how is she? Is she dead?”

The constable then proceeded to tell Curnow that she was dead and asked him what he shot her with. Curnow replied that it was with a 12-gauge shotgun. The gun was now in Mr Rowe's wheat paddock.

The constable searched Curnow and found in his pocket a spent 12-gauge shotgun shell and a photo of Eleanor Bockmann. He asked Curnow if it was the shell with which he shot Bockmann, and Curnow replied “yes”.

Constable West charged Curnow with murder.

Mounted Constable Ewens, stationed at Ardrossan received a message at 4:15 pm on Friday, September 8th, requesting him to go to the Sandilands home of the Bockmann family posthaste.

When the constable arrived at the family home he found Dr Alpers sitting in a bedroom with the deceased. Dr Alpers described her wounds to him before the constable then made an inspection of the house.
He found in a bedroom a box containing 12 gauge shotgun cartridges. In the dining room, near the window was a large pool of blood. The constable followed a trail of blood from the dining room, through the kitchen and enclosed verandah, then outside for nine yards, stopping just near the rainwater tank.
The wall and chairs in the dining room were covered in small holes consistent with shotgun pellet spray.


The Constable travelled over to Rowe's farm and located the gun in a paddock. M.C. West and M.C. Ewens both travelled to the paddock the following day and recovered a number of unspent shotgun shells.

When appearing in court, Curnow seemed indifferent to what was going on around him. He was wearing football boots and a football Guernsey under a jacket and refused to speak. Members of the Bockmann family offered their evidence.
Curnow was formally committed for trial at the close of the Coronial Enquiry. The following morning Curnow was officially charged with Wilful Murder.

The trial proceeded in Adelaide. It did not take long for the jury to find Curnow guilty of murder. He was sentenced to hang, with the date chosen to be two days after Christmas in 1922. Curnow's lawyer appealed for mercy, due to his young age, but it fell on deaf ears.

Within days, supporters for Curnow pleaded for mercy for the 18-year-old. A Parliamentary enquiry proceeded, and after their investigation, Curnow's sentence was reduced to life in Yatala Prison with hard labour.

But, Curnow's story doesn’t end there. In 1935, after many petitions to the Government on his behalf, prison officials decided to release Curnow. He was released from Yatala Stockade in February 1935 and sent to live in Melbourne with his family.
After that, the trail left by Curnow becomes harder to follow…reports are inconsistent, with some saying he died that year, others say he may have changed his name and lived out his life in Victoria.


Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

References:
1922 'DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED', Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW: 1888 - 1954), 23 December, p. 2. (SPORTING EDITION), viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45592974

1922 'DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED', Kalgoorlie Miner (WA: 1895 - 1950), 23 December, p. 4. , viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93227794

1922 'DEATH SENTENCE.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 30 November, p. 8. , viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20586995

1922 'MAITLAND TRAGEDY.', The Register (Adelaide, SA: 1901 - 1929), 12 September, p. 9. , viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64133604

1922 'THE MAITLAND MURDER.', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889 - 1931), 30 November, p. 8. , viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49131151

1922 'YOUTH GUILTY OF MURDER.', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), 30 November, p. 9. , viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1858876

1935 'Little Danger From Released Murderers', The Mail (Adelaide, SA: 1912 - 1954), 16 March, p. 2. , viewed 04 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58858507

South Australia Police Gazette Indexes, 1862-1947. Ridgehaven, South Australia: Gould Genealogy and History, 2009.

South Australia Police Gazette Indexes, 1862-1947. Ridgehaven, South Australia: Gould Genealogy and History, 2009. AU5103-1922 SA Police Gazette 1922

South Australia Police Gazette Indexes, 1862-1947. Ridgehaven, South Australia: Gould Genealogy and History, 2009. AU5103-1935 SA Police Gazette 1935

Sandilands Murder Part III: “If I Had a Gun, I’d Shoot You, Then Myself!”

Sandilands Murder Part III: 

“If I Had a Gun, I’d Shoot You, Then Myself!”

Herbert Cyril Curnow, known to friends as Cyril, had previously made threats to Eleanor Bockmann. He had said to her, “If I had a knife, I would cut your throat, then my own.” On another occasion, he had said to the girl, "If I had a gun, I would shoot you, then myself!”.

On Thursday the 7th of September, Curnow waited on the Ardrossan road about three miles down from Sandilands. He knew Bockmann had to come this way to go to her sewing lessons. Curnow set up a barbed wire across the road, hoping to catch Bockmann in it. He went up onto a nearby hill, and waited for her, hoping to shoot her when she rode into the barbed wire.
He waited until nightfall, but Bockmann never rose through, so he returned to the Bockmann family home in Sandilands.

On Friday the 8th of September, Curnow, after kicking a football with Lawrence Bockmann, waited for Lawrence and his dad to go out into the paddocks and spread manure. He watched the two men go out and knowing Mrs Bockmann was not home, took advantage of the fact, and went and got the family's gun. He cleaned the gun, loaded it, and put it near the kitchen door.
He went back into the bedroom and read. He went outside for a drink and noticed the gun was gone. He told Eleanor Bockmann that her father said he could have the gun, and asked her to get it. She got the gun, and he returned to the bedroom, gathered his belongings, and then returned to the dining room where the girls were mending socks.

He checked the gun was loaded, raised the rifle, and aimed for Eleanor's temple, fired the gun. The girls screamed, with Eleanor falling to the floor, and the other two girls running away in fear.

Curnow ran outside. He ran for two miles into the scrub, with the intention of giving himself up to Mr Rowe a nearby farmer. As he was running, a motor car came along, so Curnow threw the gun into a paddock and hitched a lift to Maitland.

When in Maitland, Curnow went to the local police station and handed himself in.

Sandilands Murder Part IV: Conviction and Release

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

References in the final post.

Sandilands Murder: Part I: Herbert Curnow and Eleanor Bockmann

Sandilands Murder: Part I:

 Herbert Curnow and Eleanor Bockmann

At 18 years old Herbert Cyril Curnow was a troubled young man from Moonta, South Australia. His father had been prone to explosive outbursts of anger that led to physical violence in the home. At the age of fourteen, Herbert had gone out on his own and found a job. He also played football in a local team. His other interest was reading about bushrangers and robberies, he studied these stories, and often imagined himself as a bushranger.

He had met the Bockmann’s only a few months previously through playing football and had started visiting the house to practice with the Bockmann brothers. While practising, he met 17-year-old Eleanor Bockmann. Within the coming weeks, the two became friendly, with Curnow accompanying Bockmann to Sunday School, Church and local dances.
Curnow fell hard for Bockmann, but she didn’t feel the same for him. Two months into their relationship they had begun to argue after Curnow saw Bockmann becoming friendly with other

Artist's impression of 18 year old
Herbert Cyril Curnow

young men.
Curnow saw Bockmann walking along a local street with a drunk young man. The young man had his arm around Bockmann, which enraged Curnow. He confronted Bockmann, and she replied, “If you don’t like it, you can lump it!”
The family went to church on September 3rd, with Curnow joining them. After church, Curnow and Bockmann had another argument. Bockmann broke off their relationship then and there, leaving Curnow devastated.
Bockmann then began to ignore Curnow at every opportunity. Curnow, on the other hand, could not stop thinking about her and found himself unable to sleep.

In the first week of September 1922, during local football finals, Curnow arranged to stay with the Bockmann family at Sandilands, near Maitland on the Yorke Peninsula. He shared the bedroom of the Bockmann brothers for the week and ate dinner with the family, including Eleanor.

His love for Eleanor had not subsided and only intensified by sharing the same house as her. On Friday the 8th of September, he ate lunch with the family and waited for Eleanor’s father to head back out to work, then he took his opportunity.
He took her father's shotgun, entered the room, and shot her in the neck. Curnow then ran into the scrub, but eventually gave himself up to the police.

Next Week: Sandilands Murder Part II: Wilful Murder

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

References in the final post.

Sandilands Murder: Part I: Herbert Curnow and Eleanor Bockmann

Sandilands Murder: Part I:

 Herbert Curnow and Eleanor Bockmann

At 18 years old Herbert Cyril Curnow was a troubled young man from Moonta, South Australia. His father had been prone to explosive outbursts of anger that led to physical violence in the home. At the age of fourteen, Herbert had gone out on his own and found a job. He also played football in a local team. His other interest was reading about bushrangers and robberies, he studied these stories, and often imagined himself as a bushranger.

He had met the Bockmann’s only a few months previously through playing football and had started visiting the house to practice with the Bockmann brothers. While practising, he met 17-year-old Eleanor Bockmann. Within the coming weeks, the two became friendly, with Curnow accompanying Bockmann to Sunday School, Church and local dances.
Curnow fell hard for Bockmann, but she didn’t feel the same for him. Two months into their relationship they had begun to argue after Curnow saw Bockmann becoming friendly with other

Artist's impression of 18 year old
Herbert Cyril Curnow

young men.
Curnow saw Bockmann walking along a local street with a drunk young man. The young man had his arm around Bockmann, which enraged Curnow. He confronted Bockmann, and she replied, “If you don’t like it, you can lump it!”
The family went to church on September 3rd, with Curnow joining them. After church, Curnow and Bockmann had another argument. Bockmann broke off their relationship then and there, leaving Curnow devastated.
Bockmann then began to ignore Curnow at every opportunity. Curnow, on the other hand, could not stop thinking about her and found himself unable to sleep.

In the first week of September 1922, during local football finals, Curnow arranged to stay with the Bockmann family at Sandilands, near Maitland on the Yorke Peninsula. He shared the bedroom of the Bockmann brothers for the week and ate dinner with the family, including Eleanor.

His love for Eleanor had not subsided and only intensified by sharing the same house as her. On Friday the 8th of September, he ate lunch with the family and waited for Eleanor’s father to head back out to work, then he took his opportunity.
He took her father's shotgun, entered the room, and shot her in the neck. Curnow then ran into the scrub, but eventually gave himself up to the police.

Next Week: Sandilands Murder Part II: Wilful Murder

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

References in the final post.

A Haunting at Minlaton, Yorke Peninsula

A Haunting at Minlaton, Yorke Peninsula

 

It has been alleged that the Porter Building, located at 49-55 Main Street, Minlaton, Yorke Peninsula is haunted by a former lolly shop owner who died in a fire in 1958.

Claims of a ghost causing paranormal activity in the building are common, with previous tenants claiming that objects would mysteriously move on their own, that doors and windows would, on occasion open and close with no human contact.

 Cold spots have been reported, as well as cold breezes on scorching hot days, and at least one person claiming to witness a strange human-like apparition floating through the building, seen from outside.

Previously to the current shops being constructed, the original buildings were a shop and small residence, which were owned by local council member Kevin (K.G.) King in the 1950’s.
Mr and Mrs King were dressmakers and set up shop in 1948, renting the premises from Mr Poole.

 In the small residence lived 80-year-old Mabel Evelyn Lock, who once lived across Main Street with her husband, Edwin Ernest Lock, where they ran their own business, and where Edwin tended his prize winning garden.
Edwin passed away in 1940, and Mabel lived and worked in the town for a while longer, until moving into the residence alongside Mr Kings shop.

 On January 11^th, 1954, W. J. McMahon, a neighbour, noticed smoke billowing from the Mrs Lock’s house. He called the fire brigade and the local doctor for help.
 The fire was extinguished, but poor Mrs Lock was found dead in her bedroom.

A coroner’s report stated that the cause of death was a heart attack, and the probably cause of the fire was that Mrs Lock had been carrying a candle as she made her way to bed. The candle fell forward onto the bed igniting the covers, and later Mrs Locks clothing. The coroner stated her death was firstly the heart attach, then asphyxiation from the smoke.

It has previously been stated online, that because of Mrs Lock’s death in 1954, that she is the ghost that haunts the building. This is of course speculation, unless someone can clearly identify the alleged spirit, then the ghost could obviously be anyone, but in stating that, her death, being shocking to her, could also be the foundation for her to haunt the building…

Have you visited the Porter Building at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula, and heard, felt or seen something paranormal? Let us know over on our facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

Or in the comments section below.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller.

© 2018 Allen Tiller

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Bibliography: 

1948 'MINLATON', The Pioneer (Yorketown, SA : 1898 - 1954), 21 May, p. 6. , viewed 30 Dec 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199213919

1954 'Found Dead in Smoke-Filled Bedroom', The Pioneer (Yorketown, SA : 1898 - 1954), 15 January, p. 1. , viewed 30 Dec 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204756613

1954 'Woman's body near blazing bed', News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), 13 January, p. 1. , viewed 30 Dec 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134476027